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Quinn’s Death Penalty Decision Gets Thumbs Up From Actor

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CHICAGO (AP) – Actor and anti-death penalty activist Mike Farrell called Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to abolish the death penalty a crucial component in the national movement to end capital punishment in the United States.

Farrell praised Quinn and says it’s another example of how Illinois has been a leader in the issue — from the day nearly a
decade ago when former Gov. George Ryan cleared the state’s death row and declared a moratorium on executions.

Farrell says another key factor in Illinois and around the country is the economy.

He says even lawmakers who have supported the death penalty now realize that it makes less sense today because it is so much more expensive to seek the death penalty than a sentence of life in prison without parole.